Both articles that were discussed today just verified what I have always had embedded in my mind:that writing has to do with social, economic, cultural,etc. backgrounds. Our dialect in this area is different. (Some individuals throughout the state might even call our dialect "diminished" or incorrect or whatever.) I ran into this negative context of our speaking when first in college at O.S.U. It made me feel very uncomfortable. Now I must make sure that my students don't feel as uncomfortable as I have been. I want them to be proud of themselves, as well as their work and their lives.
I do present journals to my students in the third grade. These are used for informal writings. Sometimes we use them for writing first/rough drafts. I do not give these a letter grade. It is used for them to convey their feelings, learn how to write from a prompt, etc. I guess I am doing something correct, after all.
However, I have a problem (or should I say obsession) with grammar. My mom always instilled this in her children. It is still with me. I must choose the situation best suited for concentration of grammar.
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4 comments:
Julia,
I like what you said about the negative context of our dialect. I had the opposite experience. My high school speech/drama teacher was a stickler for things like making sure we put our g's at the end of -ing words. In college, though, no one seemed to care. I think that giving our students the opportunity to write on topics they enjoy will help them gain the confidence to write on less familiar topics.
Julia,
I know what you mean about the grammar. It's hard not to correct all the grammatical mistakes.
You're right! Here in our area, we do say things differently. That doesn't mean that we should let our students use this as a crutch. It's our job to make them aware of the fact that we may have a different word for something or pronounce it differently.That doesn't mean that they are any less intelligent.
Julia, I do understand. It is so hard to get them motivated to write. They just don't seem to care. We still have to teach them correctly, though.
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